The Earthist Chronicles

This excellent small cat design is staging its world championships at the moment, on the North Sea. And when that’s all over and done with, the class will head to my (sort of) home waters, Hampton, Virginia to be exact, for the North American championships. One of the things I love about cat sailors is that they are always shooting video. And the folks running the F18 NAs are planning to webcast the races live. Yup, live. On the internet. I love technology. For a taste of what is to come check out the NAs website, where you can watch a couple of teaser videos…

F18 Committee Boat Start: “Is this slow? This feels slow…”

Longtime TWC readers (or at least anyone who has been checking in regularly in 2005) will remember that there was a good month or two when Wetass production was, err, substandard, lame, sporadic and downright disappointing. Well, the reason is that I was off doing some real work for a change. And that work–a lengthy feature on the amazing tale of deep cave diver Dave Shaw–has just hit the newstands in the August issue of Outside. So if you have $5 and a quiet hour, lay your hands on a copy and settle back for what I hope is an amazing tale. ABC’s Nightline will air a program on the story sometime soon (probably this week, probably Friday), if they can tear themselves away from the media obssession with Karl Rove, Hurricane Dud Denny, and the future of the Supreme Court (okay, I admit this last one is important). I’ll post the date as soon as I know it myself…

The Great Wall withstood the Mongol hordes but it couldn’t keep X-treme skateboarder Danny Way at bay. Way built a massive ramp and jumped a 61-foot rampart, negating 3000 years of Chinese isolation, altering forever the very self-perception of the Chinese people, and causing a billion awestruck Asians to utter “Duuude…” at exactly the same time. Actually, none of that happened. But Way did jump over the Wall. Outside Online has the story. And TWC, of course, has the video…

Way Up There: “Hmm. I wonder how you say “take me to the hospital” in Mandarin…?”

Well, Philippe Kahn, internet wizard and possibly the most sailing-addicted man on the planet, has a new ride. The latest Pegasus is a TransPac 52, and it comes courtesy of the Farr boys over in Annapolis. It arrived just in time for the upcoming Transpac (oh, so that’s what the class name is about…). And it looks like it could be a very, very…very fast ride to Hawaii. Not sure? Well click here to watch the thing doing about 20 (it’s an .avi file–whatever that is–so be patient for the download). You can follow Philippe’s Transpac adventure here. I wonder when I’m going to become an internet billionaire so I can build every hot boat that catches my fancy (buy some Wetass t-shirts, dammit! I’m running out of time)…

“Ho-hum. Seems like every year we’re driving a boat across the Golden Gate for this guy Kahn…”

The Italian Melges 24 Nationals was a very windy affair, and photographer James Robinson Taylor caught the wild and wet action. This is what they advertise in the brochure…

As expected, Thomas Coville set a new solo transatlantic east/west record, with a final push from the outer winds of Hurricane Dennis. Time: 10 days, 11 hours, 50 minutes. Click here to watch Sodebo arriving with reefed main alone. How much do we care? Not that much. He beat Francis Joyon’s old benchmark time by 15 hours and 27 minutes, but this is a young record which solo sailors are only now starting to attack (usually as they make their way to New York to go after the big one: the west/east solo transatlantic record). Still, nice sailing Thomas…

Meanwhile, halfway around the world, Old Man Of The Sea Olivier de Kersauson and his big tri, Geronimo, lapped Australia in a record time of 17 days, 13 hours, 32 minutes. They got hit by a 70-knot microburst in the home stretch and ended up sailing backwards at a high rate of knots. Here’s their report:

“Earlier today the boat sailed into the path of weather cell that had 70 knot breezes along with a mini tornado which picked up the boat and drove them backwards at 20 knots. During this the boat sustained damage to the steering causing the boat to drift towards land at 10 knots. The crew quickly repaired the damage to the steering system after taking the sails down and Geronimo continued on her way to Sydney.”

I bet that was a good moment to learn some French expletives. As for lapping Aussieland: How much do we care? Even less than above. A record is a record, but I imagine this one will get tested, oh, about every ten years (or when the next maxi-multihull happens to break down near Australia and needs something to do…). Note to De Kersauson: unload Geronimo and build a new, massive, modern tri so you can return to doing what you do best, which is endlessly circling the globe in pursuit of the Jules Verne record…

Sodebo Success: “There’s absolutely no one here, but what the hell, I’ll raise my arms in victory anyhow…”

“Hi, Honey. I’ll be home soon, right after I take a quick dip…”

Don’t think they are going to be putting this one back together again. Story (in French) here. Link to full set of pics here. Sad, very sad…


(Photos: Vincent Mouchel)

You’ll almost certainly never get a ride on it (particularly since it was last seen upside down). But TWC will throw you a bone and at least give you a shot at seeing what it’s like to be onboard a radical cat. Click here to launch yourself across the waves…

“Hey, who’s that weird guy with the mini-cam…?”

Ever wonder where the ten best hotel swimming pools in the world are? Well, someone named Gary Warner had the miserable newspaper assignment of working up a list. Here’s his take on a pool in Bali:

In the quiet hills far from the tourist routes sits one of the heartbreakingly lovely Amanresorts of Asia. The luxuriously cool and shady cottages are hard to leave. But I loved spending a couple of hours lolling in and around the hotel’s infinity pool, the tag put on pools that use a flat rim with a gutter just below to create the illusion that the water simply floats off into space.

The far wall dropped into a ravine with a green forest canopy sitting above some of Bali’s iconic terraced rice fields. Palms swayed in the warm, humid breeze and a small river rushed down the hill toward the sea. I folded my arms over the edge and watched as a Balinese woman with a large kayak balanced perfectly on her head walked by. A remarkable travel moment experienced without even getting out of the pool.

Gary, stop! You’re killing us…

Budapest Bathing: “Hmm, there’s supposed to be a cappucino bar around here somewhere…”
(Photo: CHAS METIVIER / KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS)